Everyday life of a working grannie and hubby(6 gorgeous grandchildren) and my 91 year old Mum,Joyce, living with us,we love our little home,our chickens and "George", Bob's cockatoo who goes to work with him each day.

Our Home our Haven

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Just a little bit of a look

First of all a little tease for Shez...this is what is coming your way soon,I hope you like the colours.

This is my rug that I am making from Lyn's pattern mentioned in an older post,it is coming along slowly.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

I took these photos yesterday as the garden looks so pretty....however we are not great gardeners and the results are Mother Natures work.....I forgot to go to the vegie patch..perhaps another time.

This year our daisies are just amazing,I love looking at them open up when the sun comes out...our apricot rose just never stops flowering,we even have to prune it in flower and the perfume wafts through the front door..its name...lol its a rose I know nuthin'.

Daisies galore.

I was too late with this pic really,the lady was surrounded by Jonquils but they are finished,the daffodils, iris.pig face, daisies and happy jacks all coming out.

Yes I know more daisies lol

Looking up the side of the yard it looks lovely,passers by often calling out that it looks great.(up close lots of weeds lol)

We call this a Cobra plant,it disappears all summer, as soon as winter comes all the green comes up from the earth and these flowers that look like a Cobra snake appear,it is strange.

Iris's abound in our garden,it grows near our Lavender which I missed.

Mums favourite Rose ( you guess it,its a rose got no idea of its name )

Our pond is full of water Iris and also Arem? lillies both not yet in flower but the fish are multiplying nicely.

This is the climber that is over a pagola in the back garden, it has black flowers with a yellow centre...the name ...you guessed it ...got no idea.

This is what we call Orange Rain and it covers the old dunny..looo...toilet whatever... the shell of the building is left an this grows over it and our hens sit there during the day enjoying the shade and shelter.

This is our May Bush but she does not know its August.

The Hycynth are almost done but they have been lovely,there are several different bulbs that grow in this bed but at the moment the weeds are winning.

Well thanks for taking a walk in our little garden,I forgot the veggie patch but it is going very well, we have eaten our first potatoes,we have had carrots and the peas are almost ready.

First a huge thankyou to Shez for my lovely parcel from the Tilda swap.

My parcel arrived all lovely and wrapped with wool and silver paper.

Shez made this lovely tea pot cosy from a Tilda book.

Lady bug patty cake holders,very apt as I have many lady bug items but I never think to mention them.

A lavender fabric pear..just lovely.

Serviettes as this was actually a Tilda tea party swap.

What about these amazing flower lights,I will have to fight the grand daughters to keep these,o'h and there was lollies too, thank you again Shez for a lovely package and card. I have yours made now and it will be in the mail next week.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Well Bob had some good ideas but I can't write them all down lol and we live with my Mum so it was all out of the question.

So we decided it was time to do the sauces and jams.I have a friend that is living alone and sometimes her son gives her much heartache,so we called her and asked if she would like to bring her crochet around and sit awhile with us,she was thrilled so it was lovely to chat with the rain beating down and the smell of spices and sweetness filling the kitchen.

Tomato sauce and Worster Sauce

My little helper,bless him he stayed inside with us girls,too cold up in the shed!

Strawberry Jam and Orange Marmalade

Of course if you do fresh Strawberry Jam you have to make scones and whip cream .

Then try to 3 ingredient fruit cake...it is nice surprisingly.

This is my friend Lyn's crochet, she makes amazing rugs,she cannot read patterns but can do whatever she is shown, however this is a pattern she made up( meaning she had not seen it or read it before) however some of you girls may have done it or seen it ,she taught me when we finished cooking and mine is in soft colours.

This was the most unliked job I have done.Bob wears his pants pockets out soooo fast! Lordy knows why his hand are always jiggling coins or whatever lurks in the pockets lol.
There was no way I could put new pockets in the section as it was so thick my machine could not cope,so being a smarty pants he says,"just buy a couple of pairs of jeans at the op shop and sew the back pockets from them on the front" guess what it worked!
So now the test is to see how fast he can mess this up! Great idea Bob,which brings me to say why do they use such flimsy material in mens jeans pockets,and why when I check others at the op shop are theirs still intact and Bobs not? O'h well ours is not to wonder why ours is just to do or die!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

NOW HERE'S THE THING......

The aprons are done but.....They are large aprons and really a heavy cotton,and I am not the most creative person, I need something to follow then I am off and away.
This time I have not looked at books just done them.They are not grand or perfect but they can be put in the finished pile lol.

So yes I wish I had taken a month to do them....yes I had done an enormous appliqué on them...but they are simple, hope that some friends will like them when the open their Chrissie pressie.I had to fold the bottoms up to take the pics, original I was going to put rows of frills on them but they are long and when pinned looked silly ,I suppose I could have cut them off...o'h well too late now lol.

This one has some of my puffs on it, I do so hope it looks like a heart,my mother wanted the pocket trim ones to go this way and good girls always do what their mothers say!

This one has some of beautiful Ruths lace that she left to me it has a gingham trim which is sweet.

This one has ric rak and little cakes from the piece I had left over from the girls bags.
So there they are finished if not gorgeous,but at least I got somewhere this week lol.
Have a beautiful day, be blessed by the one that guides you on your way as you spread a joyful smile around.

Monday, August 15, 2011

A Productive and busy Week

A busy weekend here, a day trip by bus to a beautiful town named Dungog.It is where we first lived when we married and the little house on my blog is the first home we lived in.There was a quilt fair and 100 years of Railway celebrated, Bob came and had a great time ,first time ever on a bus trip for him.

The officials arrived by horse and carriage and a little parade before the opening,Bob forgot to take pics.

This is one of the new things I had not seen before, it is a net type thingo lol wool for a better word.

And this is what it makes ,a lacy twirly scarf,just had to try it out,this will be for my daughter.

This is my desk with projects cut out ready to go, I have now been motivated again.

I made these little fabric baskets for my grand daughters and little buddies for them, I will put hair brushes etc in the big ones and some hair clips in the small ones,I will put these with their Xmas things. I got the lovely fabrics at the Dungog patchwork shop.

Suffolk puffs galore on the way,I have a project lined up for them,hope I get it done lol.

SUNDAYS NEWS
I belong to the ladies group at our little church and for years we have been working hard to get money for a new toilet block..yes that's right toilets lol.
We have a darling member who writes wonderful poetry and short stories and her family has a book printed this year,Del gave all the sales money towards the loo fund...over $4,000!

So you could say we are.......

FLUSHED WITH SUCCESS!!!!(Del given the honour lol)

This was done at the interval of a little Hymnfest that we had on Sunday afternoon and it was lovely.

This is Cheryl one of the loveliest ladies I know and a voice of an angel...as I looked around our little church there were no young ones there, it is old style Cof E,with a women's guild a dying race,who is going to carry on after all of us are not able to..sad..

I might say I was raised a Church of England but about 10 years ago I went to a pentecostal,charismatic church and the music and praise stirred my soul as never before,I became re baptised and go whenever I am at my children's homes as there is no church here,so I am still faithful to my old fold and work on their ladies guild and help wherever I can as I believe God does not have segregations,just houses for us to show him our love,and by helping others I believe I am putting a reserved sign on a seat "up there".

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Water! At last a refreshing drink.

I don't know what your town water is like, ours is simply disgusting,full of chlorine and other things unknown.
When you notify council the seem to think that's a refreshing drink lol.
The shower heads have a build up of white substance around them,tap washers are always being changes,so imagine your stomach!
So be done with it all,we bought a water purifier.
On our last visit to Bobs Mums we took her for a drive into the hinterlands and we came upon a potters home,the wife made the pottery purifiers and the daughter made the gorgeous potted animals and birds,you could order whatever you wanted, the husbands painting were just wonderful.We came away with nothing but Bob really wanted to order one with frogs.
Three weeks later I rang them and they remembered us and we ordered a green tone one with frogs,when it arrived we were thrilled. So here it is.

The green is lovely and just look at those frogs,they make me smile everyday.

I just love the way they look at us lol and we have never drank so much water,it is the best thing we have bought for a long time,and no its not a novelty we have had it about 5 months now and we never drink from the tap.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The postman/lady (...that being me) delivered me a parcel yesterday,it does not happen very often and it was just at the right time,you know one of those yukky down days.

I had joined in a vintage swap and now it was my turn to get spoiled.

When I saw my name while I was sorting all the mail I got all excited..but...I waited until I had delivered everyone elses before I sat down and opened mine with Mum as she loves it just as much as me.

First a lovely card,always,always read your cards first a well learnt lesson when I was little that way you appreciate it even more,thanks Lyndel and loves and hugs for hubby.

Each a little mystery all bundled together..well for 5 mins lol.

This is a little pin cushion for my wrist,it will be used often and probably copied for friends lol.

A book for when we go in our van to keep reminders of our trips,we decided this with a lovely pen will go straight in the van with a message in front of course to remind me where it came from.

This gorgeous little woollen brooch, I will be wearing this often and the first outing will be to Dungog quilt fair this Sat.Very clever Lyndel and soooo soft,and some lovely fabric.

A tea towel with wombats lovely.

And a beautiful scarf and bits and pieces for me to play with.

This was a lovely swap and to my fabric swap partner all the way over on Washington,nooo its not here yet but don't worry it will be Paula,my mail got there so fast I was surprised when Paula let me know.

If you have not joined in a swap before I recommend it as for me at least I get a parcel and the joy of putting one together is just so good.
Blessings to everyone and to our English friend I do hope all the craziness ends soon.

Happy are those who delight in doing what He commands. Their children will be successful everywhere, an entire generation of godly people will be blessed. They themselves will be wealthy, and their good deeds will never be forgotten. Psalm 112:1-3